Dew on the mind in Dhaka winter

Mahendra Singh Dhoni came up with a suggestion when asked about a way to beat the dew factor that tends to give an undue importance to the toss in day-night matches, especially in the winters, reports Nilankur Das.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni came up with a suggestion when asked about a way to beat the dew factor that tends to give an undue importance to the toss in day-night matches, especially in the winters. The India skipper said day-night matches during this time in this part of the world could be brought ahead by a couple of hours or so.

“We could start matches an hour early so that it would finish sometime around 8.30-9.00. It is during the last hour of the match that it tends to get really wet. An early start could take care of that. But it is not something we decide and we have to play whatever the conditions,” he said.

By late evening on Saturday, accumulated dew on the Bangladesh Cricket Board lintel, fell like little drops of rain. The wet conditions make it difficult for the bowlers to grip the ball and the ball hardly does much. It makes the limited-overs matches, both the 50-over and the T20 versions, which are already tilted heavily towards batsmen a little more so. Dhoni could not agree more.

“The conditions here are nothing different from what we find back in India. Especially, during winters when the temperature falls sharply late in the evening, the dew factor comes into play. So it’s very important to win the toss and field first because the ball hardly does anything when the conditions get wet. Dew will be huge factor here. It will be tough for spinners to operate in the second part of the innings,” Dhoni added.

Sri Lanka coach Trevor Bayliss and Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan, both of who are slightly less scared of upsets here, tried to play down the dew factor. “It can be a factor if you let it to be. You have to bat and bowl well; it doesn’t matter you do it batting second or first,” Bayliss said.

Incidentally, skipper Kumar Sangakkara had lost the match at Eden last month after his team failed to defend a score of 315, that despite getting Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar early.

Sangakkara had blamed the defeat on his experienced pacer failing to bowl on one side of the wicket. Consequently, Lasith Malinga was dropped from this series.

Bangladesh, who had defeated Zimbabwe everytime here chasing under lights, too would want to field first and utilise the conditions.